SeaVIEW , SEAgull, SEE YOU SEE ME

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 POPTI - ALIBAG

#Poptipicnicmff

#AlibagPopti

Gujarat has it’s #Umbadiyu while the Maharashtra coastal belt has a similar preparation named #Popti. Essentially similar in terms of technique I did find a few differences. Both are as rustic as they can be and I was told that ideally this is an evening event – where families and friends get together and the fire adds to the atmosphere.

The essential ingredient is Vaal (Field Beans), that are available in abundance during the winters. While I have not heard of a chicken version of Umbadiyu (they may exist), Popti depending on the need could have marinated chicken and Whole Raw Eggs too. I suppose the bird is used since the cooking time would be similar to the vegetables and red meat therefore is avoided.

The Clay pots are first layered with the leaves and stems of another common wild plant – Bhambudi (Cyathocline Purpurea). The vegetables viz. Sweet Potatoes, Whole Green Peas (with the casing), Potatoes, Vaal (Field Beans), Whole brinjal, Yam is put in the pot. The seasoning was sea salt and Carom Seeds. The chicken pieces marinated with garlic and ginger were packed in small packets of banana leaves and those went in too along with the Raw Eggs. The pot is once again sealed with the Bhambudi leaves and turned upside down. Firewood and dry shrubs are placed on the pots and lit.

Hot food will be ready in a while and while local folk might have a drink with a local alcohol produce, this group was happy with their Beer and Rum/ThumsUp combinations.

The Gujarat folk typically use Indian Nettle leaves and the spice mix would have chillies too. They like it hot.

I must thank Kamal Shah for organising this where we had a glimpse of how rustic things would have been earlier (LIVE) and that people in these regions have kept alive those traditional methods.

That was one splendid day at Alibag along with this motley group of food enthusiasts.

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Grape Raita

Graped Raita!!!!

300 gms of  Yoghurt

100 gms of walnut kernels broken up to reasonable sizes

200 gms of Red Grape, deseeded and quarter sliced

20 odd mint leaves

½ tsp of Cumin seeds

2 Dry Red Chillies

Black Salt

½ tsp sugar

Whisk the yoghurt.

Dry Roast the Cumin seeds and Red Chilies grind to a coarse powder.

Mix in all the ingredients into the yoghurt, nice and tender. (Keep a bit of cumin chilly powder aside)

The Mint Leaves to be shredded by hand

Once done sprinkle the unused CC powder and refrigerate. Serve Cold

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Khatta Meetha Baingan

Khatta Meetha Baingan

Tok Mishti Begun

Sour Sweet Aubergine

Fresh Dwarf Aubergines – Slit into fours leaving the stem intact. The pices whould whole with deep cuts.

Soak the Brinjals in salted water for about 30 minutes and drain the liquid.Apply Salt and Turmeric and set aside for 15 minutes.Shallow Fry the Aubergines until evenly red on all sides and set aside.Soak Tamarind paste in warm water.Heat Oil in a Wok and add Kashmiri Mirchi Powder. Immediately put in some dissolved Asafoetida.Cook for a minute and add the tamarind water.Add a bit of turmeric and some whole Garam Masala.Bring to a boil (add some water if required) and add the veggies. Add some sugar, fennel powder and ginger powder.The dish is done as soon as the aubergines are nicely napped with the masala and amino acids.

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Chilly Garlic Stir Fry Shrimp with Veggies

Chilly Garlic Stir Fry Shrimp with Veggies

Ingredients:

300 gms of deveined shrimps

2 tbsps of Chopped Garlic

1 tbsp of Oyster Sauce

1 Carrot cut into strips (blanched)

6-7 French Beans cut into halves (blanched)

1 Capsicum cut into strips

3-4 Spring Onion Whites cut into strips

Same Spring Onions Greens cut into strips

3-4 Green Chillies Deseeded and cut into strips

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Butter

Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a wok and add 3 Tbsp of EVOO. Throw in chilli and garlic and stir. Add the white Onion Strips and prawns and cook until the prawns are done. Remove the prawns and set aside.

Add all the vegetables other than capsicum and stir-fry until tender. Add the capsicum and stir fry for another minute or two. Add the sauce and seasonings and stir. Add prawns back into wok and mix until heated through.

Serve with Rice!!

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Thai Stir Fry Chicken with Basil and Red Chillies

Thai Stir Fry Chicken with Basil and Red Chillies

Ingredients:

300 gms of Chicken Strips

2 Tbsps of Chopped Garlic

1.5 Tbsp of Anchovy Sauce

6-7 Thai Basil Leaves

4 Tbsp of Thai Green Curry Paste

4-5 Deseeded Whole Red Chillies

3-4 Spring Onion white slits

Pinch of Brown Sugar

Pour  Oil in a Wok

Fry the Basil Leaves till about reasonably crisp and then remove them and set aside and discard the oil.

 In fresh oil,  stir fry the chicken till done and light brown in colour on Medium High Heat, remove and set aside.

Now fry the Whole Chillies and remove before it turns too dark and set aside.

Now put in the chopped garlic and stir for a minute until you smell the heavenly flavours.

Add the Sugar and stir.

Add the Curry Paste and stir and cook for about 2-3 minutes on medium flame. Add drops of water if it sticks.

Once done add the anchovy sauce and stir. Add seasonings(may not be required) now according to taste and stir.

Add the fried chicken.

Add the Fried Chillies.

Stir for a minute or two.

Transfer to a dish. Spread those basil leaves on top.

That’s it.

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Beef Pepper Masala

Beef Pepper Masala

The item in the agenda had to be fulfilled some day or the other and we ventured out in this NO- rain-delayed- Monsoon sunny Saturday afternoon towards Joseph’s at Bandra. Asked for some tenderloin steak beef about 500 grams and a few packets of bacon, the latter having nothing to with the topic here.

Came back home and slept after some delicious homemade Pav Bhajji. Post siesta had a cuppa tea and then cut the steak pieces in to medium-small pieces.

Peeled about 25 cloves of Garlic and kept it on my arrangement plate. De-skinned about 4 medium sized potatoes and cut them into…not too big pieces. Fried them in oil, fully cooked and set them aside.

The actual action started after this.

Heated the oil mixed with a tbsp of ghee and put in the following:

Medium Crushed – 5 Green Cardamoms, 10 Cloves, I Black Cardamom, 10 Pepper Corns

And a Bay Leaf.

Once the above was kind of done (all in medium flame), diluted 1 tbsp of Ginger Paste and 2 Tbsp of Garlic Paste and put it in and waited for the moisture to dry up.

Increased the flame now, and in went the meat. Stirred the meat nicely for the juices to seal and then reduced the flame to low. Some moisture would come out and once that evaporated, I put in the masala as follows-----------> ½ tsp of Turmeric powder, 1 tsp each of Coriander, Cumin and Red Chili Powder and 1 tbsp of Black Pepper Powder. Mixed the meat and the masala nicely and stirred often and on until the oil separated. Added those Garlic Cloves too while the masala was being cooked and along with that added  a few whole red chilies.

Then poured in 2 tbsps of beaten curd, 2 tsps of vinegar and stirred it again. Added salt to taste along with a minute pinch of sugar. Heated up some water and added the same and covered and cooked until the meat was fully cooked. Before covering the wok I spread those potatoes on top of the stuff but did not mix it in.

It would have taken another 10 minutes or so and then switched of the flame and transferred the same to a bowl.

We had this with some buttered rice, but any Indian Bread would go well too.  Next is your turn!!

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Vegetarian(????) Frittata

Vegetarian Frittata



Chop Spring Onions…Greens and Whites separate. Meaning separate them before and chop them up …blah blah blah. Green Capsicums, cut into small strips. If you are fond of Holi, go ahead and use red and yellow ones too. Grate Amul Processed Cheese. The firangs out here could use whatever brand – I don’t want to bother myself with that. Slice some potatoes…thinny round/square thingies.

Boil the potatoes in salt water…not too soft…not too hard…u know what I mean.

Now sauté the potatoes in oil (for the utterly health conscious use olive oil) . In goes the spring onion whites. Stir nicely and gently. Last goes the capsicum and 20 seconds later you are done. Now mix some salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Beat eggs with some milk. Say 8 eggs and a half cup of milk and some chopped green chillie. Mix salt and beat until you count 137.

Get hold of a fire friendly and oven friendly pan/casserole…whatever. Put it on medium flame and heat up some oil and some butter. Pour in half of that egg mix. Reduce heat and cover. Let the liquid turn semi solid. Switch off the flame. Now spread the potato mix on top. Take a cheese slice, tear it into pieces and drop them over the veggie layer.

In the meantime, pre heat the Oven to 160 d C. Pour the balance egg mix in the pan/casserole and spread the grated cheese and bake it for hmmmm…20 minutes. Keep a check. Too much and then you might have to start all over again and who wants that. You would find that the stuff has solidified but the centre would be still kind of soft and liquidy. Switch off the oven and turn on the grill now. Wait till the top is brownish…not too much!! Done!!!

Take the vessel out of the oven. Use a knife and ensure that the frittata sides are freed. Flip over a plate and then flop on to the final serving plate. Cut with a sharp knife just like you would cut cakes and the rest do I need to tell you.

By the way, what’s so vegetarian about this one? I actually bought some eggs produced by some vegetarian hens!! You have any better ideas?

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Coq a Vin - My version

Main Item:

Mix of Chicken Breasts and Legs  – 1 Kg

Marination:

Make some incisions in the meat with a toothpick or sharp pointed thingy

Place it in a bowl.

Take the following ingredients in a sauce pan:

250 ml Red Wine

1 Onion cut into slices

1 Carrot cut into slices

2 whole smashed Galrlic cloves

A few Black Peppercorns

Bring this to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside and cool. Once done,  pour this marinade into the bowl of chicken. Now drizzle about 1 tbsp of olive oil, cling the bowl and refrigerate for about 12 – 15 hours.

Cooking:

Take out the chicken from the bowl and keep it aside. Separate the vegetables and the liquid and store them.

Take about 300 grams of bacon, cut them in bits and fry them. Once brown and crispy, set the bits aside and let the fat extract remain in the Sauce pan used for frying them.  Now fry the chicken browning them all around and set aside.

In the same fat, stir fry about 20-30 pieces of button mushrooms (cut into two or four pieces), a few pieces of whole garlic cloves and set aside.

Keep about 2 tbsp of fat in the pan and discard the rest.  Heat up the oil and add some chopped garlic and stir them until done.  Add back the vegetables from the marinade and stir on low heat until they are kind of soft.  Throw in about 2tbsp of white flour and brown the stuff. Then add the marinade liquid and, about 250 ml of chicken stock the vegetables that you had set aside and bring to a boil.  Put in those chicken pieces and simmer until chicken is done.

Take out the chicken. In the remnant gravy put in the Mushrooms and the Bacon bits and convert the gravy to a thick consistency. Add back the chicken and ensure that everything is mixed up properly. Serve on a plate with sautéed boiled baby potatoes!!

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Spear My Chicken

Spear my Chicken!!

Sautéed Asparagus is great hit at home and then you when you mix some chicken with it we land up with this produce. First I would go to the Super market or the local meat fella and get some boneless chicken organised and of course some asparagus spears of the thinner variety.
I insist that you get hold some malt vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Not those white ones produced from distilleries named as Acetic Acid!!

The rest of the stuff I am presuming you have at home.

For a 3-4 people get hold of 6 pieces of Boneless Skinned Chicken Thigh Portions. You could use breasts too but when chicken I like thighs (no aspersions on my character please).

Fillet the Chicken yourself into 1 inch pieces. Width should be about 0.5 inches. You could borrow that plastic scale from your progeny and then use and wash it give it back. You would then marinate the chicken pieces for about 2 hours with about 3 Tbsp of Vinegar, 2 tsp of pepper powder and a bit of salt.

In the meantime don’t leave the kitchen. Rather get organised for the immediate future with the following:
3 Spring Onion Sticks
8 Baby Corn Sticks cut into half
30 grams Slivered Roasted Almonds
10 cloves of Garlic (Chop Chop Chop)
4 Tbsp of Light Soya Sauce
1 Tbsp of Fish Sauce

That was done in about 27.5 minutes and now you need to get away to read a book or watch Television or plain and simple worry about other minor details in life. Or organise your cereals.

After precisely 92.5 minutes the kitchen beckons you: “Come on baby Light my Fire!!”

Take out that wok you had purchased but never used. Surely not that frying pan that you use for everything you cook. Pour that Olive Oil into it and then when reasonably hot (not smoking hot) stir fry the chicken pieces in 3 batches - 3 minutes (max) per batch max.

After setting aside the last batch of the kind of glowing chicken, throw those crushed or chopped Garlic into the oil. Sauté for a minute and make sure they are not brown. If they are, I am watching you!!

Next, in goes the chopped spring onions and then you stir the stuff for a minute or so. Then goes in the asparagus and baby corn; your hand constantly stirring the lovely stuff. Two minute later the chicken goes in too. 90 seconds later the climax sequence starts.

Put in the pepper powder, Soy Sauce and Fish Sauce one after another in any random order and stir again. (What a pain in the hand?) The almonds please, why forget them?

Two minutes later, you are done. Transfer into that glass bowl gifted to you but never used it earlier.

And all this while I hope you did not forget your cereals. Steamed Rice, Fried Rice or for that matter some noodles. Slurp!! Slurp!!

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Masaledar Qeema Lajawab

Masaledar Qeema Lajawab



Arrangement:
Procure about 1 Kilo of Minced Meat , medium minced in a machine. Wash if you have to and then let the water run away.
Take a couple of Black Cardamoms, 8-10 Green Cardamoms and about 10 cloves and roast them on a pan and then prepare a powder of them.
Make a paste of One Fried Onion and 150 ml of Yoghurt.
Blend a paste of 3 tbsp of Posto, 2 Tbsp of Chironji and 2 Tbsp of Grated Coconut.
Prepare 3-4 Tbsp of Saffron Milk
Organise 4 Tbsp of Coriander leaves and 2-3 Tbsp of Mint Leaves – Nicely chopped.
Some Ghee, Some Oil and a 3-4 Tbsp of Lime Juice.
A piece of Charcoal.
A Metal Hand.
4 tsp of Chili Powder, 3 tsp of Coriander Powder, 2 tsp of Cumin Powder, 2 tsp of Shah Jeera, 4 tbsp of Garlic Paste, 3 tbsp of Ginger Paste.

Composition:

Heat 3 Tbsp of Oil and 2 Tbsp of Ghee in the Handi and stir in 3 tsps of Shah Jeera. Next goes in the ginger and garlic paste. Sauté on medium heat for 2-3 minutes and then put in the Meat and salt to taste and increase the heat. Depends upon the meat, some water would come out. Once you get to a boil, cover and cook on low heat for a while. Then, goes in the Chilly, Coriander and Cumin Powders. Stir them in nicely and let the meat cook. Ensure that the meat kind of becomes dry. Medium Heat please.

Then you would mix in that Yoghurt, Onion paste and cover and cook for a while. 5-6 minutes later mix in the Posto Paste and again cover and cook. Have some hot water ready so that if the meat dries up too much you could add some. Cover and cook.

Once the meat is done, throw in the chopped leaves and the lime juice and mix nicely. Next goes in the Garam Masala powder that you had created. All happening on low flame!! Mix it up nicely. Mix in that saffron milk too!!

Separately take a charcoal and burn it. Place it in a steel bowl and pour 2 tsp of Ghee on it. Smoking now eh?

Place that steel bowl inside your handi and cover it for 30-45 seconds..not more. Take out the bpwl and keep it aside. Your dish is done. Transfer to a bowl, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Parathas!! Kya baat hai!!

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Colors, The Colorful and Life

Women’s Day and Holi kind of coincided today. It was a great coincidence of the colours meeting up with the colourful. Throughout the day there have been symposiums, seminars, television discussions on women’s equality, women’s reservations (In India everybody wants to reserve everything) and many more while others played with the colours.

Somebody mentioned the facts that while women want equality at office it would be a case of inverse snobbery if the same woman wants a man to lift her suitcase or perhaps open the door for her. There could be other examples should one stand up when a woman enters a room or that debate on whether a man should pay the bill at a restaurant or allow her to pick up the tab.

But these are rather trivial stuff when compared to the basic issues of women’s education that start at home where a girl since the time she was born is fed with the tenets of life. Housekeeping, cooking are the priorities she is being brainwashed with. The men will be the provider and would be the one in actual control.

This basic mindset needs to change the world over in families when they bring up their children. The responsibility is shared by both the parents and the elderly of the society. Are we really working towards this?

The colours of the spectrum cannot hide this basic anomaly in the way we teach life to kids!! Sphere: Related Content

Ahead!!

With a sudden streak of hurry, the call to go has come
Somewhere far from here, leaving a lot of genuine charm
Memories don't fade away, thoughts perhaps fly
Pictures don't fade away, the frames turn into ply
Logical realities are beyond negotiations
While friends that we made become distant realisations
New places have their own attractions
But right now they are quite like refractions
Faith has to be without questions they say
A true believer always gets his way. Sphere: Related Content

A simple Mutton Mince Curry

Since I am making it just now I thought I would write down the ingredients and process.

1 Kg Mutton Mince (Not Lamb please) - Washed and drained

3-4 Cloves

1 Bay leaf

3 tsp Garlic Paste

1 tsp Ginger Paste

1/2 inch Cinnamon Stick

4 Green Cardamoms

3 tsp Kashmiri Chilly Powder(Less Heat More Colour!!)

3/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 Medium sized Tomato

2 Medium Sized Potatoes

1 Medium sized Onion

1/2 Cup or more Oil (Depends upon your tolerance ..3/4th cup will be good)

Process:

1. Peel and Cut Potatoes into small cubes.

2. Heat the Oil in a P Cooker

3. Fry potatoes and when done keep aside for later use

4. In the same oil now put in the Bay Leaf, Cloves and Cardamoms.

5. Fry the onion until Golden Brown

5. Put in the Diced Tomato

6. Saute over medium heat and when tomato water dries up, put in the pastes.

8. Saute and when the oil leaves the masala(that mash in the cooker), throw in the Mince.

9. Now increase the heat and some amount of water would come out of the meat. Stir a few times so that the meat does not get stuck. It would when the water has completely dried up and that's the time you pour in hot water...the level about 1/2 inch above the mince!! This is the time when you add in Salt!!

10. Put on the lid and the weight and leave it on full heat.

11. On the first whistle lower the heat and cook for 4-5 minutes max.

11. Open the cooker(for opening - pour cold water on the cooker for the steam inside to relax , alternatively place the cooker under a running tap and then take off the lid)

12. Put in the forgotten fried potato cubes and stir it in. On popular demand I have put some peas also. (Microwaved the frozen peas at 450W for about 5 minutes with little water and salt). Increase the heat and let the thing boil for a minute and no more!!!

That’s it. 30 minutes of my time in the Kitchen for a reasonable dinner!!! In the meantime Rice would have got cooked and would have heated some left-overs!!

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Mud Rocks while Brook Shields

We all watched Reality TV at its best today evening as it was being played out in the British Parliament located near WaterLoo station in Central London. The motley crew of well prepared British MPs grilled the Murdochs for about two hours or more along with Rebekkah Brooks. Earlier we also saw the Police Commissioner deceiving the team with uhs and oohs and a lot of Negatives.

The questions were quite relevant and tricky but at the end of it the performance was of an extreme high order. The Senior Murdoch thumped the table and denied most of the allegations and suppositions. The Son you could make out was well trained to try and divert most questions or beat around the bush and he did manage that except for a few small hiccups. The commissioner was blatantly lying while Brooks knew nothing at all.

Why was this important in the first place? First of all it was in an alien country and it was all about a racy tabloid that apparently bribed the police for hacking phones and computers of celebrities and others to expose private sleaze. We were of course interested since these things happen in India too and that’s the similarity. More than anybody else it was the Press who were in focus themselves.

Debates were on throughout the evening on how are JPC proceedings should also be telecast. I feel they should so that a) preparation is proper b) relevant questions are asked c) the proceedings are objective and we as common man can then absorb and think and judge or opine about our leaders. This would be an important democratic process where we as Mango People (Aam Janta) can be actively participating and not wait for 5 years like dumb asses.

I always feel that the process is more important than the outcome. We all know about the outcome whether positive or negative but the process is where we go through the cycles of success and failure which is KARMA.

So it is really not important to me that we did not get any answers from the Murdoch’s and their team. Now that we have seen the act, don’t we know the “truth” in some form in spite of the investigations still due.

And somebody did raise the question about the pie throwing incident being a setup!! Anything is possible these days. Surprises are the order of the day.

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Cold Fire

The sound of a bomb could trigger different reactions for people in the vicinity. Some would fearfully closet themselves, some would rush out and try to figure out, some would call their near and dear ones and some would try to gauge the situation and react. The place where the bomb would explode would be visually of gore, flesh, blood, melted steel, other earthly matter and would be added by sounds of despair.

The scenario is same, whether it's X or Y City or Place. However, we can safely with the help of Theory of Probability calculate the risks and come to a conclusion that whether you like it or not Mumbai is definitely a High Risk Category. Now this is not new since these started in the early nineties.

Its about 4 days now since the last event happened. Print journalists have written or still writing about the event. They are writing about the anger, pain, spirit and resolve of the Mumbaikars. TV journos did zero on the place and asked questions to the common man. Some did not like the intrusion and a particular gentlemen on a talk show almost made it a Delhi vs Mumbai fight!!

The TV programs are still at it. Yesterday I watched We the People where an insipid ex DGP of police made some ridiculous comments on Govt purchasing processes while the Time Out Editor totally missed the point on Mahesh Jethmalani's premise of India learning from USA regarding beefing up preventive security measures internally!! Some said we have to live with it, while some said we should wake up and do something. But overall the atmosphere was of despair except that of the compere's last piece of act, where she questioned this hapless blast victim. People cried, TRP soared. All along NDTV knew that he had a story to say, kept him for the last when there was no time left. A planned climax!!

The politicians as usual have been vomiting out stereo type statements on courage and resolve. A PM takes 24 hours to comment and the Home Minister says there was no Intel and that's not a failure!! Rahul Gandhi's percentage comment came at the wrong time and the best would be to ignore him.

So where does the common man go? Processes are interrelated and the me and you don't understand them. The worst part is that we seem to have all the answers. The ruling party has the answers, the oppositions have them, the celebrities have them, the "civil society" has them, the poets have them, the NGOs have them, the talk shows have them. The common man however has to earn his bread and go on with life. I guess there is no more frustration. There is just this seething anger in the person going out for his daily job, while we wait for the next blast.

Can't we change the pattern? Sphere: Related Content

Music of the Sand

The man in the oasis had a flute in his hand.

Was he a pied piper playing alone on the sand.

A storm was on its way, the desert clouds of dust!

Which tune was it? His mind was sorting the past.

The scorpion on the ground ran to find a hiding place

The rock that was there was the only saving grace.

An old desert song was lurking in his thoughts

And the scorpion underneath was looking for the slots.

Divine was the flute and the sound was magical.

The wind calmed down , the air was surreal.

Kept on playing the flute until the desert moon shined

I belong here said he, and the desert has a mind!!

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